Will They Survive?
by Purpuhl
Summary: Tune in for the most exciting reality show in the Aia vision network, Will They Survive! This season we follow eight contestants who have been all over the news for their heroic and harrowing tales of prophecies, doom bringers and vampires, the all-powerful contestants of Aveyond! (A collab with Queen-of-Ice101 and Rodania! PREPARE TO LAUGH!)
1. Chapter 1

_Rodania= Italics_

Berry{Purpuhl}= Underline

 **Queen= Bold**

 _Hey everyone! So this is a collab with two of my fav Aveyond people (a.k.a. Queen and Berry)! We had this crazy idea (_ so crazy _) to work on the same document (at the same time so yes, it was a disaster), but we had tons of fun and we hope you enjoy it!_ **Lol honestly it was chaos, but it was a total blast to work together like this on the story! The funniest part is this was ever only supposed to be a small drabble length oneshot** (lol) **but it kind of...exploded?** _(it totally did)_ **XD I honestly, don't even know….**

Please enjoy our insanity and all this lovely Aveyondness :D

 _WARNINGS:_

 _ **ALL THE CRACK**_ _(serious crackshipping)_ **{Yes, crack must always be taken serious XD}**

 _ **ALL THE FLUFF**_ _(ridiculous_ (and beautiful) _amounts of fluff)_

 _ **ALL THE LAME HUMOR **_ _(not our fault)_ (IT WAS LARS, I SWEAR!)

 _ **ALL THE AVEYOND PRETTY MUCH**_

 _ **We are not responsible for the following symptoms :**_ A sudden obsession with the pairings inside of this fanfic, the sensation of being drowned in fluff, sudden fits of hysterical laughter or numerous and frequent facepalms, or the sudden need to go through all the Aveyond games again. No suing us for dying of randomness overload! {We have cassia leaves, we can bring you back. We are broke, you shall get nothing out of suing us anyway…}

Please read responsibly. _(please...very responsibly)_ **{but with zero expectation of maturity}**

PS feel free to guess who wrote what! A marked version will be put up on Mu11berry's deviantart :)

* * *

 _ **Will They Survive?**_

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen! Welcome back to _Will They Survive_! *annoying TV show music* We're in the front yard of Thais castle, here on Aia, and with an exclusive episode for you! Let's meet with our contestants starting with Rhen Pendragon!"

Rhen leaped to the forefront of the screen, knocking the host over and yelling something fearsome about defeating the demon and protecting her people and our gracious host could be heard to stutter behind her, "Wait, that isn't what this show is about- your highness, please- what-"

Next to the seat that the Thais queen had been occupying a gentle man dressed in similar finery rose quickly, grasping ahold of Rhen's shoulders to gently pull her back and whisper hurriedly in her ear. "...reality show...prize...no demon...angry vampire...shhhh..." Turning pink the young queen nodded and allowed the man to pull her back down into her chair. "My apologies." The host cleared his throat nervously and nodded, "Of course highness. Now to introduce her companion, Dameon!"

The host left out a quiet sigh when the queen edged back to her seat. "Based on the latest gossip, rumors say that Dameon and Rhen have a very unique past. The audience is waiting for answers! Mr. Dameon please talk to us!"

The man beside the queen stood again. "Well... I'm not sure what you've heard, but I was... In a bad place, and Queen Rhen got me out of it. So I'm certain she can get us through whatever happens during this contest." He turned and smiled at her and she turned more pink and yanked him down into his seat again. Behind them, a red haired woman snickered (or was it a woman? Perhaps creature of darkness would be more accurate? The paladin beside her wasn't sure).

The host then turned to a young woman sitting several chairs away, black hair pulled out of her face with a large bow and appearing quite bored. "Now I'd like to introduce our next contestant, Mel Darkt-" He was cut off mid word by a dark voice finishing her last name...a tad differently. "Ravenfoot. Mel Ravenfoot" The host met the eyes of the glaring male vampire next to Mel and swallowed hard. "Of course. Everyone meet Mel Ravenfoot and her er-consort Gyendal Ravenfoot. Moving on..."

The man's eyes wondered around and decided not to question Mel's husband, since he wanted his life. He decided to give a try to the vampiress... "Moving on, we have two of the main characters that have appeared through the entire Aveyond series!"

Te'ijal glanced at Galahad and gave a sigh. "This is getting ridiculous. Can we move on? Is this TV show even satisfying the viewers?"

The man adjusted his tie awkwardly and swallowed hard. He whispered to his microphone something about not getting paid enough and then he coughed. "I'm sure you can tell us something Mrs. Ravenfoot."

"You know I am vampire again right? Don't mess with me human. "The paladin next to her gave a sigh. "As much as I hate this annoying host, you promised not to eat any humans wife." Galahad said, surprisingly smirking.

"Anyway!" The host said, with a half-grateful, half-horrified glance at Galahad, "we also have Lars Tene-"

"Lars Tenebor, high sorcerer of Shadwood Academy and cousin of the empress." Lars had stood and taken the microphone from the host. "I'm the sane one, and I'm sick of this. We also have this weird butterfly lady who is apparently Mel's friend-"

Stella opened her mouth to say hello but Lars kept talking-

"And someone from the second and fourth games might show up later but the current writer is not creative. Can we get on with this?!"

The host grimaced slightly as he snatched his mike back. He was not paid near enough to do this. "Alright, thank you for that... Anyway, it is now time to explain the rules! All eight of our contestants will be placed into a secluded area of the Thais castle for the duration of one week. They must last that week without harming each other or destroying things, and if they do they will win the grand prize!" There was unenthusiastic applause and the host felt his eyelid twitch.

"Now, it is time for our contestants and their things to be taken to the private guest wing of the Thais palace, offered to us for this endeavour most generously by king Edward Pendragon!" A brown haired young man gave a gleeful grin and waved, laughing about justice for his suffering or something of the like. "We will cut to break during this time but don't go away!" He glanced over at the advertisement cards being held up behind the cameras and sighed before pasting on a smile.

" _Will They Survive_ is brought to you by our sponsors: Herbert's Coffins where the very latest styles are always available, and the great sculpture who is world renowned for his Hercules disaster-I mean masterpieces!

*after a "short" break filled with pointless marketing*

"Hey again dear viewers! This is Will They Survive and-"

The host glanced behind the camera guy and sighes.

"Another sponsor? And I'm still not getting paid enough! Unbelievable! I mean Chibjamas are now on sale! Fuzzy red pyjamas with Gyendal chibis on them! If you want one you can call 24680547-"

A shout is heard from the other room.

"GET ON WITH THAT!" The host sighs pulling his hair violently. "ANYWAY! Let's move on with this lame reality show!"

Mel raised an eyebrow at the man who she was apparently married to. "Chibjamas?"

Gyendal shrugged. "I didn't make them. But when I find out who did..."

He let the threat hang unspoken in the air, and Lars seemed rather more pale than normal. Probably because of the bright studio lighting that had been set up. Yep, definitely the lighting.

"Okay!" the host said, exasperatedly- er, excitedly. "The first challenge our contestants must face is to arrange their sleeping quarters without killing each other! Let's see how they handle it!"

"That room is mine!"

"No way in hell!"

"Get off the bed with your shoes!"

It was utter chaos in the seclusion wing as they fought for where they would sleep. Lars had of course claimed one of the rooms as his own, as per fitting of his noble blood. That plan however was quickly changed with the arrival of a certain vampiress and her dark paladin…

"Sorcerer, if you value your comfort and your humanity you will remove yourself from the bed. Humans may be amusing and at times adorable but even I have my limits and I will not go the week without a room of my and Galahad's own." Te'ijal said, her tone relaxed but her raised eyebrows making it clear she wasn't playing around.

"Why should you get the bedroom?! I got here first, finders keepers!"

Te'ijal hissed softly and behind her Galahad cracked his knuckles ominously. Letting out an undignified squeak Lars jumped to his feet, darting around the vampire pairing before fleeing the room.

"Fine! I'll go use the other bedroom!"

Te'ijal and Galahad exchanged looks.

"Should we stop him before he dies?" Galahad questioned curiously.

Te'ijal grinned.

"Oh I wouldn't worry about it, this is a survival of the fittest kind of game and I'm sure Mel and Gyendal will take care of that just fine."

A shrill scream punctuated her words and the door to the other bedroom was opened and slammed before Lar's took off the the demon king himself was on his tail.

"See? It's working out already."

Lars stalked out of the room half-terrified, half-annoyed. When his eyes fell to another door he flew inside and shut the door behind him so that no one would steal this place too.

The sorcerer closed his eyes with a satisfied nod.

"Finally, a decent room for someone with royal blood."

A cough was heard behind him. "Hell no!" He turned around, facing the rest of the room when he realised he wasn't alone.

Lars saw Mel adjusting her bow in front of a mirror, looking at him with a massive grin.

"THERE'S NO WAY I AM LEAVING THIS ROOM TOO!"

The room's balcony opened and Gyendal stormed in. The dark mage stood face to face with Lars and the sorcerer swallowed hard.

"Three...two..."

Before Gyendal could finish his words Lars ran out with a scream and the mage left out a quiet chuckle while Mel looked at him laughing.

"That should do." He said, slowly making his way towards her.

Gyendal placed his hands in her shoulders looking at her reflection playfully.

Mel just shook her head in amusement and mumbled something out with a chuckle.

"The powers of the great Lord of Twilight..."

In the next room over, Rhen was already crawling into the bed. She needed to be well-rested if she was going to survive a week with all _these_ crazies.

And anyway, if she pretended to be very exhausted Dameon would give her a back massage to help her sleep.

Actually she could probably just ask, but then he wouldn't have that silly sappy smile he had when he thought she wasn't paying attention.

"Dameon," she muttered mock-sleepily, reaching out towards where he was pulling the windows closed.

But then she was interrupted by a frantic banging on the door.

"What in Aia-" she bolted upright, and stared at the door, and then at Dameon, who looked just as shocked as she was.

He went to the door, slowly unlocked it-

"LET ME IN, GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Suddenly Lars was trying to tumble into the room, looking decidedly pale and this time there was no studio lighting. Dameon caught him and stood him upright outside the door. "What's the matter, Lars? People are sleeping, keep it down-"

"DEMON KING! MURDEROUS VAMPIRES-" Lars coughed and cleared his throat, and stood up straighter. "I mean, um- all the other rooms are occupied."

Dameon looked him over. His robes were disheveled. His hair was sticking up in all directions. He looked rather like he had just seen three vampires consecutively.

Dameon looked back at Rhen, who had already settled back into the bed and closed her eyes. Her purple hair was spread out around her like wings and her arm was hanging tiredly over the edge of the bed.

Well, they had gotten to the room first. "Sorry, Lars, you can't sleep here."

Lars crossed his arms. "Why not?"

"Because," Dameon thought quickly. "This is... a supply closet."

And he closed the door.

Lars stared at the door that had just been closed in front of his face for a moment, contemplating breaking it down with magic before remembering that if anything was broken they would lose the contest. Muttering sullenly under his breath he stalked into the main living area, making his way to the couch where he dropped down with a grumble.

"Lars?"

Jumping slightly he turned, looking to see the butterfly girl, Stella he believed they had introduced her as, standing several feet away.

"What?" He snapped, only to feel awful about it moments later when the girl's face fell slightly.

"I apologize about disturbing you, I was just wondering if you were planning to sleep on the couch tonight."

Lars instantly knew what she was about to ask and pointed an accusing finger at Stella.

"Yes it is and no way in hell am I giving it you! It is mine!" He patted the couch emphatically. "MINE!"

Stella gave a soft smile and retreated away, setting herself down on a small padded window seat that looked cramped even for the slight female.

"I understand. Goodnight Lars."

He grumbled under his breath and laid back, closing his eyes as he got comfy on the couch. Comfort came relatively quickly, sleep on the other hand did not. He tried to ignore it, he really did! But he kept on opening his eyes and looking over at the girl sleeping uncomfortably and the gentleman that he had been forcibly reformed into over the course of the quest just wouldn't leave him alone until with a muffled curse he stood.

He carefully crept over to where Stella was sleeping and with the gentlest of movements slid one arm under her knees and the other behind her back, carefully avoiding her wings. Hoping against all hope she wouldn't wake up he gently carried her over to the couch, settling her down without crunching her wings and then covering her with a blanket he found on a nearby stool. Then, with an impressive glower he stalked to the window seat and dropped down hard into it, squishing himself inside.

The next time he saw Elini he was going to thank her for ruining his life from her "gentleman training" with a plague curse.


	2. Chapter 2

The night passed quickly and no one had the chance to sleep well. Everyone could be found at the Thais castle's kitchen waiting to hear the next dumb challenge.

They glanced at the host walking into the room, dressed in Chibjamas and yawning.

"What time is it?" He mumbled.

He was shot deadly looks by everyone and Gyendal's eyes glew red and he was about to snap the man's head off… So he flew inside searching for some appropriate clothes that an annoying old host- I mean a humorous handsome man could wear.

Mel smirked at Gyendal.

"Don't say a word or I'll kill him with nothing more than his pyjamas..."

He was back at the filming room in seconds, getting his microphone from the camera-man.

"Can we begin now?"

"Lights! Came-! Ladies please wake up!" The guy behind the cameras exclaimed, glancing at Te'ijal and Rhen who were both resting against their husbands shoulders.

They both opened their eyes with a murderous look at the camera guy.

"Lights! Camera! Action!"

"Welcome back everyone to Will They Survive! Today's challenge is- OH MY GOSH please put that down Mrs. Ravenfoot!"

Te'ijal looked at him smirking, as she was twisting a knife through her fingers. Galahad left out a sigh, snatching the knife out of his wife's hands.

She just sighed too. "Great this show just got more boring… Can we at least move on?"

Rhen laughed at them trying to keep her sword in her case.

The host sighed.

"Okay, so now that I know I won't have a knife in my eye… Today's challenge is… COOKING! How are our contestants feeling about it?"

Everyone's face went still and Stella could be heard from behind, awkwardly clapping.

"Cooking?!" Lars repeated. "What the heck are we supposed to cook?"

"Ahahahahahahaha," the host chuckled nervously. "I would suggest making… breakfast!"

Lars stared. "But what?"

"Well," Te'ijal said slowly. "My favorite recipe is-"

"Do not finish that sentence, wife!" Galahad growled. "We will make something edible to the humans."

 _Wife_ and Gyendal looked disappointed, but everyone else released the breath they had apparently been holding and the host hurriedly nodded in agreement to Galahad's words.

"Yes, something edible for the humans! Now, as per the Aveyond cameo demand we have for no reason whatsoever other than because we can, Iya Tiki is here to bring us the freshest and best ingredients for today's breakfast challenge! All fruits and vegetables have been grown in her own garden with the help of her singing magic, and the meat is from the finest farm in Ryva!"

The gentle elf smiled as she entered the wing, a large basket in her arms carrying all the smaller fruits and the packages of meat. Behind her entered a second elf, a male with sparkling brown eyes that carried several more baskets with melons and other fruits.

"Here you are! I truly hope these are to your satisfaction." Iya said cheerfully, before faltering as her eyes landed on Te'ijal and Galahad.

The elves exchanged looks of surprise and confusion before pointing to the vampire couple.

"I know you! We met you in the underworld during our own quest. What are you doing here?"

"We're here on double jeopardy for quests. Travelled with Rhen's team to defeat Ahriman, then again with Mel's team to defeat the prophecy and my brother." Te'ijal snorted, gesturing towards the third vampire standing next to Mel.

"Wait, you have a villain here?!" Iya gasped, stepping backwards into Ean.

"Why yes, a villain and the husband of a protagonist. Is there a problem with that little elves?"

Iya's eyes bugged a little at Gyendal's growled statement as she stared around the group in front of her, twitching slightly when Gyendal made a point of wrapping his arm around Mel's waist and baring his fangs.

"No! No problem….Ean, we should go now I think." Iya said with a nervous titter.

"Thank you Ean and Iya for your cameo and the food!"

The elves nodded before hurriedly leaving while Te'ijal eyed the food with a wicked grin.

"You know, I've been wanting to try my hand at human cooking. Shall we attempt to make our meal gourmet? I see bacon…."

The look on the vampiress face was enough to strike fear into all of their hearts and the host forced a laugh.

"I love the direction this is going!" He proclaimed with a large fake smile. "Well, I'll leave you all to it! Have fun!"

He retreated quickly from the room…

And then poked his head back in and said in a low voice, "Actually, please for the sake of all the citizens of Aia, please, please, do not have fun."

With that he left, muttering something about a raise or a new job or perhaps going on strike, and the eight contestants were left standing alone in the kitchen with only the magical cameras as supervision.

How terrifically unfortunate for the universe.

There was a tense silence while they all stared at each other, and then-

"I WANT PANCAKES!" Rhen shouted, diving towards the pantry.

"NO WAY, WE ARE ROASTING SOME RATS!" Mel argued, leaping ahead of Rhen to search out an unlucky rodent to roast, dragging Gyendal behind her

"We could just cut up some fruit-" Dameon tried to suggest, but he was interrupted by Lars-

"FRYING SOME BACON HAD BETTER BE PART OF THIS OR I WILL FRY YOU ALL WITH MAGIC!"

"MAGIC DOES NOT EXIST!" Galahad protested, pointlessly, while Te'ijal pulled him towards the cupboards to find a pot.

"I've always wanted to try this!" she hissed gleefully, which caught Galahad's attention enough that he stopped looking at the general chaos happening around the pantry.

"Wife, what are you doing?!"

Te'ijal grinned and carried the pot over to the sink, filling it partway with water before approaching the stove to place it down and turn the element on.

"What does it look like? I'm about to boil water?" She said cheerfully, placing a lid onto the pot.

Galahad couldn't decide whether to be glad his wife wasn't talking about eating that obnoxious host anymore or terrified that his wife was about to attempt any measure of cooking. Before he could reach a decision however he was distracted by the sound of Mel and Rhen arguing and Lars threatening them both with something about curses, and as he rushed over to deal with the situation he never saw his wife shrug before turning the element onto the top heat level.

"Lars! If you want bacon why don't you just make some yourself!" Rhen was yelling, arms flapping about angrily.

"Because I haven't the foggiest on how to cook it you fool! Now-"

"If you shut up for half a second and let me decide the meat then I can make it for you!" Mel snapped, two dead rats hanging by their tails in her hand.

Lars abruptly went silent, then made a face of utter disgust at the rodents.

"You want rat bacon?! Have you lost your mind?!"

Mel snorted and without so much as a look at Galahad who had just reached their circle she grabbed Lars arm and forcibly dragged him off, mocking his noble blood and pickiness with food or something of the like. Well, at least that was taken care of for the moment. He then turned to Rhen who was still grumbling and Gyendal who looked both disoriented and irritated, clearing his throat to get their attention.

"You two can cut fruit, we need some fresh berries and melon for breakfast." Galahad instructed, grabbing all the fruit that needed to be cut and carrying it over to the far counter where they would be able to work in relative peace.

"Anything to get this ordeal over with before someone gets killed." Gyendal muttered, grabbing a knife and setting to work.

Rhen shrugged and started next to him, Galahad letting out a sigh of relief. Dameon and Stella were working together quite cheerfully on the other side of the kitchen, mixing something and talking quietly. He was just about to go over to see what he could do to help when he heard his wife make a noise of confusion.

"Husband, come here a minute will you?"

Galahad quickly reached his wife's side to see her studying the pot with a critical eye.

"All the water vanished several minutes ago, and now the bottom of the pot is charred and smoking."

Galahad's eyes widened in shock as he stared at how high the element had been turned to and he ripped the lid off to find that the bottom of the pot was indeed burnt to a crisp.

"What did you DO?!"

Te'ijal stared at him blankly as he lunged forward to shut off the element and quickly move the pot off the element into the sink, filling it with cold water as he scrubbed his face.

"Wife…" He said softly, " I TOLD you th-?!

"You insult my cooking abilities one more time and I am going to strangle you!"

Galahad whirled to face Lars and Mel, gaping as Lars made a comment and Mel let out a shout, wrapping one of the massively long rats tails around his neck.

"MEL! Sto-?!"

The clash of blades behind him made Galahad spin again, this time to see Rhen stab at Gyendal with her blade only for him to block and and twist the blade.

Galahad grabbed his hair and pulled, near ready to throw himself out the nearest window as he tried to decide which death to stop first. But before he could even take a step…

"THAT IS ENOUGH!"

Silence fell over the kitchen as slowly everyone turned to face the far counter in fear and trepidation. There stood Stella, hands on hips and eyes sparking as she surveyed the mess. Then with a look so terrible that even he flinched the gentle Naylithin raised one hand, stabbing her finger at Lars, Mel, Rhen and Te'ijal each in turn.

"You four… **GET OUT**!"

Stella shouted at them, her purple eyes flashing with rage that no one had ever seen. The healer shoved the four of them out of the room and now she was left alone with only Galahad, Gyendal, and Dameon, who didn't seem much interested in killing each other or her… for now at least. Not that she expected something like that from Dameon.

The vampires looked at each other and sighed, meeting Stella's eyes as they heard her clapping her hands while Dameon returned his attention to chopping pineapple.

"Okay, since I think you're the most likely to cook without causing any disasters… don't prove me wrong! But watch out, I DON'T WANNA SEE A SCRATCH AT THE POT! DO BOTH OF YOU UNDERSTAND?"

Galahad just nodded and even Gyendal could only stare at her motionless.

" **WE CAN'T COOK BY STANDING**!" The healer shouted, having past her limits.

The two vampires flew towards the kitchen stove.

"Now, I am going to check on the others, because we don't want ANY disasters. Dameon you're in charge until I am back."

With these words finished, the healer left the room, closing the door behind her. That mess was taken care of. But then she glanced at the living room.

"Damn!" Mel exclaimed, when she threw her knife at a man's painting, and hitting almost the center.

Lars was laying on a couch next to her, trying to fire magic with his finger up to the chandelier. Rhen and Te'ijal approached the other two from the other end of the room.

"I am boreeeddd..." Rhen exclaimed, clenching the hilt of her sword playfully.

So after a few seconds of scolding by Stella, Lars was reading a book he had found on the table, Rhen was braiding her hair murmuring melodies, leaving Mel and Te'ijal to gossip.

Stella left a sigh, grateful that they hadn't blew anything off. Then, since things couldn't get worse, the host entered the room with a camera man close behind him….

"How are our contestants doing? And Will They Survi-"

" **SHUT THE HELL UP**!" Lars had raised his staff facing the annoying host.

"Dare to take another step."

"Do not test our patience."

"As much we've left…" Stella murmured out.

After the healer checked on them, she returned to the kitchen and...

There was… no chaos in the kitchen. It was clean. Cleaner than when they had started. Somebody had even _mopped_. Dameon was making pancakes, piling them onto a plate as they finished cooking, and stirring a pot of syrup with the other hand. He stepped out of the way as Gyendal finished with the rats he was basting and put them in the oven, his vampiric face looking strangely- _serene_.

Galahad was doing the dishes, stacking them neatly in the drying rack. He was not cursing when a plate slipped and he had to catch it. He wasn't even scowling. He was humming cheerfully to himself. _Humming_.

"Who- who did this?" Stella asked, shocked. Had Dameon put them all under some kind of spell? She did not approve of magic that intruded on other people's minds. She frowned pointedly at the former druid who was also apparently king of Thais- whatever a druid was, and however that whole two kings but not really thing was supposed to work.

He looked innocently back at her. "The mopping, do you mean? That was Gyendal's idea."

Stella gaped. Was _Gyendal_ taking over brains, _again?_ She would tell Mel on him, he'd better not doubt it-

But the vampire just shrugged at her, and muttered, "The floor was filthy. _Something_ had to be done."


	3. Chapter 3

In a back room the host stood before a camera, glaring slightly at the camera man behind it.

"This time would you please tell me when we're rolling, rather then just start?!"

The camera man blanched, then looked down at the little blinking red light on his device.

"Er…."

The host stared for a moment, eyelid twitching.

"Are you—...Of course, thank you." Then he straightened his tie, flashing his best smile at the viewers.

"Today has passed rather uneventfully once breakfast finished, and now it is time to employ our next advantage to see what is going on within the minds of our competitors! Even as I speak we are now preparing to switch over to our magical cameras hidden within the walls of their rooms to hear what the are speaking about as they share their thoughts on the gameshow so far!"

There was canned applause in the background, that somehow managed to sound halfhearted even despite being prerecorded.

"First up?" He paused for dramatic effect, "Te'ijal and Galahad!"

The host was watching at the screen, which was connected to the magical cameras.

Te'ijal entered her and Galahad's bedroom, throwing herself on the bed. The last days were more tiring than the ones who they were fighting for their lives. Even a _vampire_ was tired. Her husband's eyebrows went up and he left out a chuckle.

"That you would actually sleep on a bed, after turning into a vampire again, was something that I couldn't even dreamed of."

"I'm used to it. Kinda. Anyway…" She murmured, her eyes slowly closing as Galahad climbed in the bed next to her.

Before the knight could lay down on his pillow something started ringing next to his wife's nightstand.

"Oh great it's this human device again…" She mumbled, sitting up to answer the phone.

"You must be kidding…"

With these words she threw the device across the room, breaking it into pieces. At least no one dared to enter their room so they could hide the broken phone.

"Great… They want us to play a scene in Aveyond 5…"

Galahad sighed and she saw his smirk.

"And what if we deny?"

"They'll probably trap us in this TV show forever…" They both grinned, and the knight shook his head in amusement before shutting his eyes.

Te'ijal crawled back into the bed, watching Galahad for a moment, thinking about how much she wanted him to be sweet with her as he did back in their human days… Well _sweet_ wasn't exactly a part of her vocabulary but you understood what I meant.

With a sigh, she just placed her head on the pillow. Her husband left out a short laugh before dragging her close to him, so she could rest her head against his chest.

Galahad chuckled again, kissing the corner of her lip playfully and she made a sound of surprise.

Te'ijal stared at him with wide eyes, as he closed the distance between their lips once again, this time into a real kiss.

His wife left out a happy noise before closing her eyes.

With another word, they both faded to sleep.

"Goodnight Te'ijal…"

The host was just watching the screen motionless.

"Well, that was unexpected."

"Psh!"

The man glanced at the camera guy.

"What is it now?"

"Is this even safe for us?"

The host stared at the cameraman and his eyelid twitched. He was not going to answer that. He turned back to the camera, eyes crazed but a smile still plastered on.

"Now let's take a look at what Rhen and Dameon are up to."

* * *

The camera opened... to darkness.

"What?" the host groaned. "Um... it seems we are experiencing... technical difficulties... excuse me a moment, dear viewers, I— uh—"

He disappeared from view, and there was a crash, and then a bang, followed by angry screaming and—

He came back into view, smoothing his hair back. "Well," he began through clenched teeth, his smile firmly in place, "it appears our dear, dear contestant Rhen has managed to throw her cloak over the camera lens. We will— have to— just— _listen_ —" his smile was twisting quickly into a snarl, and the cameraman quickly switched the view back to the black screen that apparently represented Rhen's cloak.

All that could be heard... was snoring. This was not going to work—

" _AAGH!_ " a voice yelled, and then there was another crash— _why were there so many crashes in this show?_ — and then— the vile obstruction was pulled off the camera, to reveal a very frustrated-looking Dameon struggling to disentangle himself from Rhen's cloak and not disturb the sleeping queen any more than he already had.

"Dameon?" a little voice murmured. _Too late_.

"Sorry, Rhen, I... tripped..." He tried to stand up but he couldn't get the cloak off his legs and instead he fell into a heap on the floor... again.

Rhen sat up in the bed and looked down at him. "Don't sleep on the ground," she scolded. "Come up here with me."

He was trying, he really was, but—

" _Oof!_ " He was becoming much more acquainted with this carpet than he had ever wanted to be.

Rhen tiredly pushed the covers off herself, and swung her feet off the bed—

"No," he protested, "stay there, love, I can get up—"

"I want to help," she yawned, already walking to him. He tried to at least _sit_ up to meet her, but— that stubborn cloak!

"I didn't get to help in the kitchen," she explained, and pouted. "Stella kicked me out. Why me, and not _Gyendal?_ "

He couldn't help smiling when she looked at him like that. "You _were_ being rather disruptive, dear one."

She tried to glare, but then she laughed and her nose crinkled up and she smiled down at him. It was only then that he noticed the sparkle of mischief in her eyes— too late, she was slipping her arms under his legs and around his back.

"Love? Rhen! Put me down!"

"I will," she promised, standing up straight and kissing his ear. "Once we've gotten to the bed."

The bed was only a few steps away, and she dropped him onto it almost the same moment she dropped onto it herself. He was still tangled up in the cloak and also very, very tangled up in her.

"That's better," she murmured, pressing her face into the crook of his neck. "Goodnight, Dameon."

He let his head rest on her hair and smiled. "Goodnight, Rhen. I love you."

* * *

When the camera view was replaced once again with the host he looked marginally more sane, although you could practically feel the aggravation rolling off of him in waves. He shot a stiff smile at the camera before glancing nervously off to the side.

"Now for our final secret camera of the night! Stella and Lars are already asleep so we'll skip them for now, so let us go to Mel and Gyendal!"

There was a muffled prayer from the host that he would live to see the next day and the camera flickered before tuning into the frequency of the magic camera in the walls of the final room in time to see a dressed for sleep Mel exit the bathroom with a yawn.

Gyendal was sitting on the bed, long legs stretched out as he focused on the book in hand only to glance up and freeze at the sight of the black haired woman.

"CHIBIJAMAS?!"

Mel grinned and struck a pose before turning slowly to give the black haired vampire sitting on the bed a full view of the red pyjamas with chibi bat Gyendals all over them.

"Aren't they amazing, so comfortable and fuzzy." She proclaimed, face pink with the effort to hold back her laughter.

Gyendal closed his book with a smack and slammed it down on the table. His eyes narrowed, glaring venomously at the pyjamas his wife was wearing.

"Fuzzy? They're not going to be fuzzy when I'M finished with them, they are going to be ash!"

"Not until this week is over, you aren't allowed to break or destroy things in anger, nor are you allowed to kill people." Mel taunted, Gyendal groaning and sliding down to lay down in the middle of the bed. "Now move, you're taking up all the space."

"Hmm, I don't think I will. If I have to look at those evil pyjamas I will do so in comfort."

Mel smirked, placing her day clothes on a chair before gracelessly dropping into the bed and across an unsuspecting Gyendal who grunted at the sudden weight before rolling his eyes.

He let out a dramatic sigh and halfheartedly tried to push her off from where she was sprawled across his torso.

"I don't recall signing up to be your lounging pillow." Gyendal drawled idly.

"Funny enough, I don't actually care." Mel shot back cheekily, only to let out a yelp when he poked her ticklish side and sit up abruptly.

He grinned at her, red eyes sparkling with mischief.

"That was a dirty play and you know it." Mel grumbled, glaring at him a moment.

He only laughed and grabbed her arm, giving a surprise tug that brought her tumbling down onto the bed next to him.

"Of course it was lamb, who do you think you're dealing with?"

"A creep." She muttered petulantly, Gyendal smirking.

She rolled her eyes, watching as he shifted to lift himself up on one elbow, looking down at where she was next to him as with a gentle hand he pulled the bow in her hair loose and took it out, placing it on top of his book on the table next to him. She smiled teasingly, reaching up to tug one of the loose black strands of hair that had fallen in front of his face. He shot her a wicked smirk, then leaned down to press a lingering kiss to her lips before pulling away from the pink faced but laughing black haired woman.

"You are impossible" Mel said with fondness, although luckily she could not hear the host mock gagging on the other end of the camera feed.

"Goodnight Mel." Gyendal said in amusement, wrapping an arm around his wife's waist and pulling her snugly to him.

Mel reached over to pull the covers up over them, curling into the vampire next to her as her eyes closed.

"Goodnight Gyendal."

Said vampire whispered a soft command, causing the lights to go out and just like that a peaceful silence fell over the room.

The camera flicked back to the host who looked irritated and slightly green.

"Well aren't they all disgustingly cute…"

"You're just jealous because you're a miserable batchelor!" Someone yelled from off screen, the Host's eyes bugging out slightly before he took a deep breath and bared his teeth in a macabre-esque smile that had the temperature in the room dropping.

"Anyway folks, that's it for tonight! Tune in again tomorrow to see the contestants in their next challenge… and to meet a new stagehand!" There was a terrified yelp from somewhere off camera as the host continued. "Brought to you by the Orc Junk Shop, where you're sure to find everything you never wanted in one place!"

The second the last word had left his lips he spun, a crazed look in his eye as he lunged offscreen, shrieks of terror soon following several thunderous crashes as the screen went black.


	4. Chapter 4

Another day here, at this _lame_ reality show, was making everyone used to waking up early… sorta. They were all gathered in the castle's huge living room, waiting for the host to arrive because he was late… again. He probably had a hard time sleeping after seeing all these happy couples reminding him how pointless his life had become.

The man arrived at the room running, nodding at the camera guy to start. That was when the producer flew into the room furious, throwing script papers everywhere.

"YOU ARE LATE AGAIN. I HAVE VIEWERS WAITING US TO GO ON AIR SO THEY CAN WATCH THESE LOSERS!"

With that statement, everyone's eyes flashed and Lars shouted.

"I'M NOT A LOSER! I'M A STAR AND I AM GOING TO WIN THE PRIZE!"

Gyendal eyes took a dark look before he fired a spell above the man's head, clenching his fist to stop it so it wouldn't destroy half of the wall. The mage sighed, clearly irritated.

"Sorry for the interruption!" The producer exclaimed with terrified eyes, running out the room.

With the camera man's nod, the host started talking.

"Here we are again, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome back to _Will They Survive!_ Today's challenge is going to be very entertaining and certainly safer for us and the castle- I mean our _awesome_ guests!"

"So what is the challenge?" Rhen asked after a sigh.

"I am going to get to that! The challenge is BOARD GAMES!"

"HOW MUCH FUN!" Stella exclaimed and she was shot weird looks by everyone.

The host looked at the camera with a fake smile.

"Let's begin, shall we?"

The eight contestants stared down at the pile of board games on the table. They shuffled their feet. They tried to appear excited or even vaguely interested.

Actually Stella really _was_ excited, but she tried to appear not to be so as not to offend Lars or Gyendal or any of the other slightly terrifying people in the room with her.

Mel blew her hair out of her face. " _Bored_ games was right."

The others mumbled in agreement.

"Well, we have to play _something_ ," Stella said, trying not to sound too cheerful. "What looks fun? Rhen, what do you think?"

Rhen examined the boxes spread out before her. _Monopoly?_ Lame, she couldn't even put the money to any real use. _Scrabble?_ Who wanted to stare at letters, for _any_ length of time? What about—

"Hey! Apples to Apples! I _love_ apples!"

"Apples are good," Dameon said with an agreeable smile.

But apparently this opinion was not universal. Lars scowled and the vampires in the room looked at each other awkwardly. That was a no then.

Stella looked at the table, and immediately found the most the most obnoxiously bright and colorful game there was. "What about Candy Land?"

"Candy is good," Dameon agreed again.

But Lars _hmphed_. "I'd rather _eat_ the candy than play a game about it."

"Aren't there any _exciting_ games?" Te'ijal complained.

Galahad frowned. Te'ijal's idea of exciting could be… frightening. They needed something classic. Something dignified, something simultaneously simple and elegant, something like…

"Checkers."

" _What?_ " Lars protested. "That's boring! I could beat all of you in my sleep!"

"Hmm," Gyendal leered. "I doubt that."

"You underestimate us, uplander," Te'ijal said, smirking.

 _That_ did it. "Oh yeah?" Lars challenged, taking out the checkers box and pushing the other board games off the table. "Prove it!"

"But only two people can play at a time…" Stella protested softly.

"We could split into teams," Dameon suggested.

Lars looked dubious. " _Teams?_ "

"I find that idea rather amusing," Te'ijal said. "Boys versus girls. And I call the armchair!" Before anyone could move, she had scrambled into it, and looked at them all with a triumphant grin.

That was when they all realized— there were eight of them, and only seven seats.

"I get the chair." Gyendal snapped out, quickly rushing to the chair furthest from his sister and settling down in it before anyone else could grab it.

"I have a crick in my back from sleeping at an awkward angle last night, I can't sit on the floor." Dameon quickly said, snagging one of the larger armchairs.

That left five of them to four seats, and of course with Galahad in the mix that was about when the fighting started.

"Until the three young women have a place to seat themselves I will not take one for my own!"

"Young woman?! You aren't that much older then us!" Rhen snorted.

Mel crossed her arms irritably.

"We aren't flipping damsels in distress Galahad, so shove it up-"

"Oh please don't finish that Mel, he was only trying to be polite!" Stella interrupted hurriedly.

"Well one of us is going to have to sit on someone else's lap, which one-" Rhen never got to finish her statement as Lars threw his hands up into the air with an exasperated sound.

"You guys are being idiots! Three of the women in this room are _married_ to the guys here and you guys are debating about who's going to sit on someone's lap?! I want to get done with this stupid challenge and so if you guys can't decide I'LL just sit on someone!"

Everyone turned to gape at Lars as with a snarl he stomped over to Dameon and despite the sun priest's cry of horror dropped down onto the older male with crossed arms and a thunderous scowl.

"GET OFF OF HIM!" Rhen shrieked, grabbing Lars collar and yanking hard.

Mel dissolved into fits of laughter, using Stella's shoulder to keep herself upright as she pointed at the scene before her.

Dameon's shocked and alarmed face could be seen behind Lars as he pushed on the male while Rhen shouted death threats in an increasingly high pitched voice, Lars scrabbling to pull his robes free.

"Would you stop?! You're going to wrinkle them!"

Finally Galahad had clearly had enough, coming over with brisk steps to pull Rhen back away from Lars before yanking Lars up and off of Dameon to push him off to the side.

"Thats enough! We need to decide whom shares with whom, not kill each other! We're all in this for the mystery grand prize because Edward himself promised it would be something good. We won't win if we kill each other. Now, let's think rationally and make our decision."

Mel let out a snort and straightened, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes.

"You all are a bunch of complete and total idiots. Stella and I can easily share the extra wide cushion by Te'ijal's chair. She prefers to sit places that won't cramp her wings and I could really care less about this whole stupid thing so I'm fine to share." She mocked, the two girls retreating to said cushion.

"Well why didn't you say that before then?!" Galahad questioned, rubbing his temple.

Mel grinned.

"I was going to, but Lars beat me to it. Besides, it was more entertaining this way."

The host, who was sitting beside the camera man, slapped his forehead.

"We're here over 30m trying to figure out who sits where? Seriously? Please move on…"

"The old man is right! Let's start so I can beat you all!"

With the others rolling their eyes at Lars, the game begun!

During the game, Dameon would "accidentally" sneeze causing the whole table to move and Lars would shoot suspicious looks at Gyendal and Te'ijal now and then, wondering how vampires could be so good at this game. They were almost the only ones to move pieces but he would get in front of Gyendal so he could play too and show off his abilities, causing the vampire to glare at him.

At least they had the dark mage in their team but Te'ijal seemed to keep them on the ropes. Rhen was getting the hang of it too, making Dameon smile.

"You're cheating!" Lars exclaimed, slamming his fists down the table.

Mel looked at him with a massive grin.

"Just because _YOU_ are useless, doesn't mean that we aren't playing fair!"

"I AM USELESS? This was just my warm up ladies!

"Yeah right!" Rhen coughed out, clearly to piss him off.

"THIS HAS JUST STARTED!"

Lars' teammates stared at him. He was being too competitive with the girls… and the worse was that he actually continued to lose for another half hour.

"HELL NO!" With that shout, the sorcerer flipped the table causing everything to fly over the others.

Stella's scared reaction, by Lars' sudden exclamation, was to give Mel a push sending her tumbling towards the boys' side.

"Ah!" She shouted as she landed on someone's arms.

When she opened her eyes, she found Gyendal smirking at her, placing her on his lap.

"How do you manage to catch me _every_ time?"

"Habit?" He said with a quiet chuckle.

"Hey I wasn't done beating you at this game uplander!" Te'ijal said laughing, and Lars just crossed his arms over his chest.

"Hmph!"

The host was watching the scene motionless, and then he slowly tilted his head towards the camera guy next to him.

"This just _had_ to happen, _didn't it_?"

The cameraman shrugged and thought about saying something snarky but he remembered the stagehand from the night before and refrained.

And at any rate, the one they called Lars was shouting too much for anyone to get a word in edgewise. "You weren't beating me! You were only winning because _Gyendal_ kept taking over!"

" _My_ strategy was to minimize _your_ mistakes," Gyendal snapped. If Mel hadn't been sitting on his lap, he probably would have lunged at the sorcerer, and Lars quietly congratulated himself on flipping the table and causing such a fortunate circumstance.

" _I_ wasn't making mistakes, that was Galahad!"

"What?" Galahad protested. "I wasn't allowed to make a single move! You two monopolized the game!"

"Well— well—" Lars spluttered. "Well— Dameon's sneezing was distracting me!"

As is customary when such an accusation is made in the midst of a riotous debate, a pause was made wherein Dameon was to be allowed to defend himself.

But he didn't. He just sat there looking embarrassed. And that was when Lars realized what had really been going on.

"You're allergic to _checkers?!_ "

"Um—" Dameon stammered..

"He wasn't really sneezing!" Gyendal realized. "He was _cheating_ for the _girls!_ "

" _Dameon!_ " Galahad gasped, sounding rather like a girl himself.

Mel cackled. "I _cannot believe_ it took you all so long to notice!"

"He was being so obvious about it!" Rhen agreed. Dameon turned pink.

"Well I— um—" he cleared his throat and tried to ignore the way Gyendal was glaring at him. "Monopoly, anyone?"

Rhen laughed and climbed over the table to wrap her arms around him. "I'd rather monopolize _you_."

At that everyone else groaned and Te'ijal took one of the board games and dumped it over the top of them, and after that it was all over; not a single board game was spared in the war that ensued.


	5. Chapter 5

In the screen room hidden outside the castle the night shift camera men sat tiredly watching. All the cameras in the seclusion wing had been turned off other than the one in the living room that all the contestants had been made aware of.

"This is such a boring job, we spent almost the entire night sitting here watching the monitors on the small chance that someone might actually do something." One of the camera men grumbled, glaring at the screen in front of him.

"No kidding right?! I wish something would happen, I'm so bored….." His friend with a sigh.

"Guess we just gotta stick it out."

"Guess so."

They lapsed into silence once more, one of the camera men sliding forward to grab chips from his friends bag.

Unknown to him however, as he moved his sleeve caught on a switch that was silently flicked on, and without their realizing behind them a small screen jolted to life to reveal the bedroom of a certain fast asleep dark mage couple. Magic waves began to radiate out from the walls, and in response to the unusual magic activity… one of the figures lying in the bed began to stir.

* * *

Mel was happily asleep, and pretending she was not here in this gameshow with everyone else, when she was torn out of her blissful albeit light sleep by Gyendal shifting behind her to sit up slightly.

"What are you doing?! You're letting the heat at me, come baaacckk…" She mumbled fuzzily, already feeling the summer heat that mere magic fans didn't chase away now that her undead ice cube husband had shifted away from her.

"Hush." He ordered softly, voice tense.

The tone of his voice woke her up instantly and Mel sat up, head clear for the most part as she looked questioningly at Gyendal whose red eyes glowed in the darkness.

"Can you feel it?"

Mel blinked slowly and he carefully pulled the thin sheets away from them, muscles poised to move.

"Feel what?" She breathed, trying to figure out what he was talking about without success.

"The strange magic in the air." Gyendal said, dark red fire beginning to form in his hand. "I was drifting in and out when I felt it suddenly appear for lack of a better word."

Mel stared around the room, reaching out with her own magic only to recoil at the first hint of the strange magic.

"It's coming from the wall separating our room and the one next to us." Mel whispered, her shoulders relaxing slightly. "It must be Rhen, we haven't actually felt her use her swordsinging magic before so we wouldn't recognize it. I wonder if she's got some sort of rodent in her room and doesn't want to chase it all over."

"That would make sense, if there wasn't one small problem. It isn't Rhen and Dameon next door to us, it's Te'ijal and Galahad."

They were both silent a moment after that revelation, then together without a word they surged forward and with magic ripped loose the plastering on their side of the wall.

Before their eyes sitting there right in front of them, as calm and innocent as could be, was a camera.

"...what?"

Mel and Gyendal stared at each other for a long moment. Then slowly Gyendal turned to the wall, reached in to grab the camera, and then crushed it in his hands.

"They were using these cameras to watch us for the show." Gyendal growled, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"If they had a camera in our room, wanna bet there's one in everyone's room?" Mel said calmly, although by the look in her eye she was more then a little pissed.

"Let's find out." Gyendal said, sounding perversely cheerful as he pulled back his leg before executing a powerful kick that brought half the plaster on Te'ijal and Galahad's side of the room down at once.

"AH!" Te'ijal exclaimed, being suddenly awoken by the wall collapsing next to her.

Shortly after the disaster, Galahad opened his eyes, still holding his wife snuggly next to him.

"What-the-hell?" The knight said while watching Gyendal and Mel on the other side.

The dark mage looked at his own wife with a smirk before glancing back at Galahad who was still cuddling Te'ijal and looking at them confused.

"I think we should let the magical cameras record that…" Mel said with a chuckle.

The vampiress sat on the bed, eyes wide.

"You must be kidding… I think we could snack at the producer, don't you think brother?"

Gyendal let out a quiet laugh. "I'm totally in."

And then Lars could be heard screaming.

"What happened to him?"

"Let's found out."

With that, these four made their way out of the destroyed room.

* * *

THERE WERE BUGS IN THE ROOM AND THEY WERE CRAWLING ALL OVER LARS AND FLYING AROUND AND— _NO, N-O,_ _ **N-O**_ —

He was fully awake and screaming before he could even remember his name or where he was or why, he was jumping off of the window sill and running madly around the room, where had these horrible fiends _come_ from?

"Lars?" a groggy voice from the couch said. "What is it? I—"

Stella breathed in sharply—

And screamed. "BUGS! EW, EW, EW, _EW_ —" she was jumping on the couch, flapping her arms about and fluttering her wings madly—

"BUT YOU _ARE_ A BUG!" Lars objected, she had no right to be screaming like that when he was terrified—

"AAAHHHHHH!" was her only reply.

"YOU'RE A _FLYING_ BUG!"

" _AAHHHHHHHHH!_ "

"OKAY I CAN AGREE WITH THAT!" he screamed back—

That was when three frowning vampires and a glowering Mel entered the room.

"What is all the yelling about?" Te'ijal began, but she was interrupted by her husband—

"WHAT ARE THESE ABOMINABLE FLYING FIENDS DOING HERE?!" Galahad shouted. "KILL THEM! GET THEM!" He batted his arms at the insects but that only caused them to swarm him. "AAAAHHHH!" he screamed, and dove behind Te'ijal. "GET THEM OUT OF HERE!"

"They're only bugs, chopstick," Te'ijal tried to soothe, but—

"AAAHHHH!" Lars argued, and Stella screamed, and—

"Do you mind keeping it down in here?" Dameon yawned, and appeared in the entryway. "We're not all nocturnal— what are you _doing?_ "

His eyes widened as he took in the scene, and Galahad explained loudly from behind Te'ijal, "KILL THE BUGS! GET THEM AWAY!"

"Don't kill them!" Dameon protested. "Just let them out the window—"

Lars had heard _enough_ of that— "THEN THEY'LL JUST COME BACK IN, YOU FOOL—" he screamed, and continued batting his arms wildly at the swarming bugs.

Stella had found a book and was attempting to use it in the only acceptable way a book could be used besides for reading; that is, to defend the world from the creeping and crawling things. And Galahad was at least screaming, and might end up swallowing the bugs if they were lucky, but—

Mel was no help whatsoever, she was cackling like this was all _funny_ , and Gyendal was just frowning at them all—

And Dameon was _actually_ trying to get the window open! They were all doomed—

"What's going on in here?" Rhen yawned, peeking her head in. "Can you all _please_ quiet down— I— AUGH! WHAT ARE THOSE?! THEY'RE SO GROSS, I—" she shielded her head with her arms and squeezed her eyes shut— "EW, EW, GET THEM AWAY FROM ME—"

Dameon stopped fumbling with the window and caught her when she leaped at him. Gyendal, for one, was surprised the man could still breath with the way she was clinging to his neck, but then, being a vampire, he supposed he didn't know that much about the subject anyway..

"AARRGHH!" Rhen yelled, and Dameon rubbed her back—

"It's okay, love, they're only bugs—"

"HORRID DEMONS!"

"I won't let them touch you—"

And Te'ijal was laughing, "We _could_ just leave and lock the insects in here for the night," she said, but of course nobody was listening and Galahad was whimpering so she patted him on the head—

And Mel was still cracking up, Stella had broken the couch and was now running circles around everyone with Lars, and both were waving their arms everywhere and nearly smacking people in the face— Stella with a book, which was quite inconvenient, and—

And—

"That's _enough!_ " Gyendal snapped, and released the raging inferno of magic that had been slowly building in him, effectively destroying the bugs and— also incinerating the entire room— the entire _wing_ —

When the smoke cleared, everyone stood frozen in place, staring at the destruction around them. Stella and Lars had stopped mid-stride, their legs locked in what would have been a running position, if they were moving. Mel's laugh was still etched in her features, but no annoying sound came out anymore, which Gyendal secretly thought was a shame but you didn't hear that from me. Te'ijal was still stooped over Galahad, her hand in his hair, and Rhen hadn't released her hold on Dameon, who was—

Looking very shocked and distressed. "Are they… dead?"

Gyendal nodded, and everyone visibly relaxed.

Except Dameon. "Oh… I… poor bugs—"

"They were _terrifying!_ " Rhen announced, slipping out of his arms to stand on the floor like a normal person. "Thank you, good vampire," she began, and ignored Galahad's protesting cough, "for destroying the foul creatures! I can never repay you for your deed. For centuries to come the bards will sing of your heroism— Dameon," she interrupted herself. "Why do you look so sad? It's okay. There were only bugs."

But he was inconsolable. She patted his back and let him pretend his eyes were not wet by hiding them in her shoulder

"Well," Stella said, "I suppose we will have to find somewhere else to spend the night."

Te'ijal grinned in that mischievous way that Galahad had come to associate with trouble and adventure. "I think _I_ have an idea."

They all looked sharply at the vampiress. What was she thinking? More importantly, should they be scared?

Gyendal smirked. "Do you think what I think, sister?"

She chuckled with a wink, facing the dark mage.

"Well, we could camp outside. It would be fun… and I'm sure you are all aware of the fact that the sky is full of stars here." Te'ijal said calmly.

Stella made a noise of excitement and the others nodded with a smile.


	6. Chapter 6

When the sky started to darken, everyone left the castle and went to a small forest nearby, since they didn't want to deal with the producers' and Edward's rage.

Rhen had insisted that they made marshmallows, so now Dameon was trying to light a fire.

"Ahh this isn't working…" The sun priest murmured but then Lars popped out of nowhere and shot a fire spell towards the pile of woods.

The sorcerer looked at Dameon like he was a slave or something.

"NOW MAKE ME MY MARSHMALLOWS!"

Rhen, who was sitting in a rock near her husband looked at Lars and her eyes flashed.

" _YOUR_ MARSHMALLOWS!?"

"Why don't you share?" Dameon tried to say.

"SHARE MY MARSHMALLOWS?" Lars shouted.

While these three were arguing, the others were setting up the tents, Mel had taken from the castle.

"Are we done?"

"Almost." Mel said, making sure the tents were steady.

"Okay, so what now?" Galahad asked, resting himself against a tree.

"We could have some fun." Stella said, with a smile.

Mel sighed. "And what could we do for fun…?"

Then Gyendal and Te'ijal left out identical chuckles and looked at each other.

"PRACTICING DUELS!"

Galahad looked at them and his brows went up. "You two are never tired of fighting…"

The two siblings started walking in circles, keeping eye contact with each other.

Gyendal smirked. "You think you're going to beat me without magic?"

"I don't need weird sparkly things to win." She said with a chuckle, preparing her bow.

That was it. Stella got between them.

"WE'VE ALREADY DESTROYED ENOUGH THINGS. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT."

Mel laughed at them. "Let's see what the others are doing."

* * *

The night had fallen completely and everyone was slowly going to sleep… they had a rough week.

Lars stole almost all of Rhen's marshmallows. He had eaten so much that now he was sleeping in a tent, snoring, so Stella needed to move her own tent far away.

Rhen and Dameon were sitting in a tent too.

"I am tireeeed…" Rhen said, before closing her eyes.

Her husband sighed, starting to pull her up next to him.

"Love, you're going to get cold at night."

"Lars took all the blankets!"

Dameon chuckled, removing his outer robe to cover up his wife, before kissing her forehead.

Rhen hugged him tighter and he murmured to her with a kiss to her lips, causing her to turn red before closing her eyes.

"Goodnight, Rhen…"

In another tent, Mel had been crawling next to her husband too.

"Mmmm…" She said, having almost fallen asleep, when she felt the usual arm around her. Mel usually slept right away but this time...

"What are you thinking?" Gyendal murmured behind her.

For some reason she smiled, twisting to face him, and she buried her face in his chest. He dragged her closer, kissing her, before closing his eyes too.

"Sleep well, lamb…"

"Creep…" She murmured with a smile and they both faded to sleep.

Te'ijal and Galahad on the other side, were resting against a tree.

"We definitely need a vacation after this." The vampiress said, stretching her arms.

"Absolutely." Her husband agreed, with a chuckle.

Te'ijal shot him a look and laughed. "How is it possible to be afraid of bugs after fighting countless demons for centuries?"

"I was not afraid!"

"Yes you were." She said with a chuckle.

"Well…" He said looking in her eyes. "At least I'm not afraid to do this..."

"What..?"

In a quick move he grabbed her chin gently, kissing her softly.

The knight cuddled his wife tightly, and they both fell asleep after a while.

"Goodnight, demon spawn…"


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning came all too early for their liking they were unpleasantly greeted by the bright sunshine accompanied by the infuriating sound of the host's voice.

"And despite this being only the third day of their seclusion together they have already managed to destroy…..an entire wing of the palace." The host was saying to the cameras that were following him over to their little tired group, sounding rather flabbergasted by their achievement.

"What do _you_ want?" Mel growled, glaring up at the host from where her head was resting in Gyendal's lap.

They were all trying to wake up, although some of them were taking advantage of their significant others to get some extra rest. However their little group sat up slightly when stepping out from behind the host was Edward.

Stella gave a delighted cry, standing over to her feet and rushing over to him to hug him tightly.

"I love you dearly but I will never agree to do this for you again." The butterfly woman informed the king, sounding immensely relieved for it to be over.

A sense of relief had fallen over their group at the ordeal finally being over, everyone relaxing back with a sigh.

"I have to admit, even though I figured there was a chance you all wouldn't make it to the end I never expected that you would blow up an entire wing." The host butted in before turning apologetically to Edward. "I am very sorry about this your majesty. I could have never anticipated this."

"Oh I'm not worried about this, I knew it would happen." Edward said with a laugh, waving off the hosts concern.

His words made the others freeze in various positions as they stared suspiciously up at Edward who looked entirely too pleased with himself for someone who had just lost part of his palace.

"...Edward? What exactly do you mean by that?" Te'ijal questioned, eyes narrowed.

"Well the wing was old and I've been wanting to fix it up for a while, but the council was being stingy and said no. It woould be coming out of money I still have from the quest so it's not like it would be coming out of royal funds but they said no. So I figured that if it was destoryed withoout my help they would be forced to say yes and I could get that upgrade I've been wanting." Edward explained, grinning down at his wife who was staring at him like he had lost his mind.

He stared down at Stella in confusion, then from where the others were gathered there was a squawk from Rhen.

"What?! You used us to demolish your wing for free?!"

"Not free! I got payed to lend the wing to the gameshow." Edward offered cheerful, Stella groaning and pulling away out of the line of fire as she buried her head in hands at her husbands obliviousness.

"Wait...so we were never going to win a grand prize in the first place?!" Galahad snapped, an indignant scowl on his face. " What were we even going to win?!"

"The grand prize would have been a lifetime supply of chibijamas." The host informed them, all eyes immediately flipping to Gyendal for fear of his response.

"I wanted that prize so I could destroy them all." He said with a shrug.

Lars on the other hand… was not near as calm.

"Are you kidding me?! I own the chibijamas line! You mean I was competing this whole time to win something I already own?! Why didn't my assistant tell me about this _before_ I let Rhen talk me into joining?!"

Silence.

"You were the one that made those?" Gyendal said softly, eyes glittering with deadly intent.

Lars swallowed hard, then shakily stood and backed away behind Edward.

"Uh, need I remind you all that Edward tricked us into doing this to be his free demolition crew?" He squeaked out, eyes wide.

"Oh we know." Mel hissed, "That is why you are BOTH GOING TO DIE!"

Edward and Lars had seen much in their lives, living through insanity and terrifiying encounters through the courses of the quests. Yet all the courage they had possessed during said quests vanished in an instant as the the remaining six slowly rose to their feet, and with desperate pleas they turned tail and fled from the enraged three vampires, dark mage, sun priest and sword singer.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

The host stood watching open mouthed as six grown and powerful adults chased the green haired sorcerer and the king of Thais shouting threats and promises of suffering.

"Great goddess of Aia…." The host muttered, Stella sighing heavily and coming over to stand at the hosts side.

She rested her hand on his shoulder sympathetically and he shook his head with a groan before turning back to smile at the camera.

"Well folks, as this is a family show and… extreme violence is not allowed on air perhaps it would be better to end it now."

He was cut off by a shriek.

"Not the face! Not the face!"

"...uh, yes… So, thank you for tuning into Will They Survive! It looks like this time around our team didn't quite make to the end but next time we just might see our next contestants make it to the end! Tune in next season to see Ella and her friends from the epic world of Ella's Hope try to survive to the end!"

Another shriek and the host glanced off to the side with a grimace.

"...that has got to hurt. Anyway! This is brought to you by chibijamas….of which said sponsor may not survive…. Thank you and good day!"

And with that, the screen went black.


End file.
